The recent electoral victory of the outlawed Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), which won

88 seats up from 15 in the 454 member Parliament, should not be celebrated as an indication of liberalization, democracy and freedom. Neither should the 62 seat win predicted for Hamas - the MB’s progeny - in the Palestinian territories. Both the MB and Hamas are exploiting the U.S. call for democratization in the Middle East, using free elections to gain legitimate political power. However, neither organization has changed its charter; both seek to create a global Islamic state, where life would be dictated by the Shari’a.

On October 28, 2005, President George W. Bush denounced IslamoFascist movements which call for a “violent and political vision: the establishment, by terrorism, subversion and insurgency, of a totalitarian empire that denies all political and religious freedom.”

The violent version of this vision is the heart of the MB’s ideology and was promoted publicly until 9/11. But true to its strategy, the MB, the parent of all Sunni terrorist groups, is using its “flexibility” to deflect attention.

Egypt served as the laboratory for the MB’s strategy. In the decades since it was established in 1928, it worked under the doctrine of “concealment” (kitman) towards the “Islamization” of the country’s institutions and populace. During that time, it periodically engaged in direct action. In the 1930’s and 1940’s, the MB collaborated with the Nazis. Later they engaged in many forms of civil disturbance, from rioting to the takeover of a police station, to an attempted coup d’etat, as with the October 1981 assassination of the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. More recently, MB splinter groups, such as Gama'a al-Islamiya and the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, using suicide bombings, have focused attacks on Western tourists, killing hundreds of innocent visitors and Egyptian bystanders over the last decade alone.

Pragmatic, like the Communists, the MB uses many other names and democratic slogans to mislead the public. In the recent elections in Egypt, the MB claimed that it is now striving to Islamize society through peaceful means.However, on its website, the movement statement remains the same: it seeks to install a worldwide Caliphate, through stages that will accomplish the Islamization of the targeted nations by whichever means. When those stages are completed, the MB intends to overthrow its host societies and implement Islamic law (shariah).

Like these Islamist terror organizations, the MB publicly states its Modus Operandi: “Preparing the society is achieved through plans for: spreading the Islamic culture, the possible media means, mosques, and Da’awa [inviting others to Islam, an obligatory duty for Muslims], work in public organizations such as syndicates, parliaments, student unions.” Thus, members of the Muslim Brotherhood, like those in al-Qaeda and HAMAS, provide theoretical and material support to new recruits in universities, mosques, madrassas and Islamic “Cultural Centers.”

The MB states that the “movement is flexible enough to allow working under the "Ikhwan" name, under other names, or working according to every country's circumstances.” Allowing MB groups such leeway illustrates the fundamentally covert nature of the organization, as was demonstrated in the latest development in Egypt. The MB’s long-term strategy to undermine and overthrow governments that do not adhere to Islamic law is now underway in that country.

After a failed assassination attempt on Gamal Abdel Nasser’s life, in 1954, hundreds of MB members fled from Egypt to Saudi Arabia.There, where the House of Saud practices Wahhabism, political Islam also known as contemporary Salafism, they quickly re-established themselves in the universities. By 1961, they even convincedKing Sa'ud to fund the establishment of the Islamic University in Medina. Eventually, MB members were the mentors of future Al-Qaeda leaders such as Sheikh Abdullah Azzam and Osama bin Laden.

The MB has also established branches in “over 70 countries all over the world,” including: Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Britain, Switzerland, Lebanon, Pakistan, Morocco, France, India, Jordan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and the United States. Wherever the MB operates, it engages in subversion and proselytization.

In the U.S., the MB claims to operate through “Political Activism.”The MB planted its roots in the U.S. in 1963 with the establishment of the Muslim Student Association (MSA). Since then it has been patiently operating and waiting for opportunities to make advances, according to the teaching of its leading theorist, Sayyid Qutb. Knowing when to retreat or when to advance in the non-Muslim world, or “domain of war” (dar al-harb), depends upon the MB’s strategic assessment of a host society’s “weakness” (istid’af).

In its educational theory published by The International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) based in Herndon, VA, the MB refers to its strategic vision as the “Islamization of society and knowledge.” Under this plan, a minority Muslim group infiltrates, through legitimate legal processes, a society’s majority secular institutions, starting with its universities. Over time, “Islamized” Muslim and non-Muslim university graduates enter the nation’s workforce, including its civil service sectors. From there, those “Islamized” graduates are poised to subvert a host society’s law enforcement branches, intelligence community, military branches, and foreign services.

Indeed, organizations that support the MB dogma as practiced by HAMAS include:The American Muslim Council (AMC), the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). The Muslim American Society (MAS)also adheres to the MB’s dogma. The official MAS publication, the American Muslim, posts the biography and “appreciation” of Hasan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The American Muslim noted in its first issue: “Created in Egypt in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood became the first mass-based, overtly political movement to oppose the ascendancy of secular and Western ideas in the Middle East. The brotherhood saw in these ideas the root of the decay of Islamic societies in the modern world, and advocated a return to Islam as a solution to the ills that had befallen Muslim societies.”Although exposure to the U.S. should generate more openness towards democracy and individual and religious freedom, the latest arrival of an additional 5,000 Saudi students to U.S. universities could perfectly serve the MB’s infiltration strategy. Saudi students, well versed in “fanatical and murderous, indeed explicitly genocidal” Wahhabism, which R. James Woolsey, former CIA Director identified as “IslamoNazi” ideology, may turn out to be new emissaries carrying the fanatical Wahhabi creed that is bound to advance the MB agenda in the U.S.

In the interest of preserving freedom in the U.S. while advancing it globally, it is time to recognize the Muslim Brotherhood and its splinter organizations for what they are and designate them as terrorist organizations.

Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld is author of Funding Evil; How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop It. She is director of the American Center for Democracy and member of the Committee on the Present Danger. Alyssa A. Lappen, Senior Fellow at the ACD, is a former editor for Forbes, Corporate Finance, Working Woman and Institutional Investor.

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